1) Nothing overly ambitious.* I hate to haul a book across the country and either never actually pick it up or have a book so lengthy that it takes over my vacation.

2) The books should be dissimilar. I like to have range. Three mysteries novels would bore me. Last year’s list included a wry memoir of making it on Broadway, a collection of funny essays about literary criticism and graduate studies,** and a backwoods noir novella.

3) At least one has to be something that my boyfriend would be willing to read. I like to be able to share books.

What do you look for in a vacation read and what are you reading this summer?

*I don’t mean it needs to be chick lit. Just that it needs to be for my entertainment and not for betterment. Also under 500 pages. It can’t be the book equivalent of that four-hour Romanian movie about goat herding in my Netflix queue: the one that when it shows up in my house, I never get around to watching it.

About the blogger

Stephanie Curtis has produced events, daily news shows, documentaries, conferences and call-ins for MPR News. She also was among the pioneering producers who launched The Current. You can hear her discuss movies every Thursday on The Cube Critics.

I, too, like contrast. I want my “big” books to be engrossing and to transport me away to a different place. And I usually like to read one new non-fiction. Last year, I read David Brooks’ “The Social Animal” and learned a lot.

Suzanne

I just added the book that you mentioned today about WFAN sports radio’s beginnings to my list. I’m currently reading “Paris, I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down.” quite funny.

stephanie

I am dying to read Gillian Flynn’s book, too. I didn’t like Sharp Objects, her first book that much but the new one has gotten too good of reviews to pass up.